Even to you Old Age

Today’s text from the prophet Isaiah is a beautiful promise of God’s grace, of His nurture, patience, and His incomprehensible love for you – and for me. Wretched, poor, naked, and blind as we all are because of our daily – even hourly sins – yet He loves us still. And though this text was directed to His Chosen people, so also is His promise applicable to ALL who are God’s children through their faith in Jesus.

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:3-4)

The context of this passage in Isaiah is the impending brutal and bloody Babylonian invasion of Israel and the deportation of virtually its entire population from their homes. Of particular note, the Babylonian invasion followed the prophesied Assyrian invasion of Israel several generations earlier.

Why the invasions? Briefly, because of Israel’s persistent rebellion against God which manifested itself in their multiple and multilayered idolatries, murders, political machinations, rampant sexual immoralities – all comparable to the sins that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah – and, by the way, sins not too dissimilar to those slowly overwhelming America.

The northern kingdom of Israel was the first to fall under God’s wrath. And it’s not like God hadn’t warned them of His impending judgement. He did, through His prophets such as Amos, Hosea, and Micah; But no one paid heed.

The southern kingdom of Judah was no better. And so, the Chronicler wrote: “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore, He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans [Babylonians] who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. (2 Chronicles 36:15-17)

Before we get much further into today’s message, I must caution us all. There’s an important lesson for everyone who has ears to hear and a heart to receive the Word of the Lord. That lesson is this: God’s patience is not limitless. As He warned Israel, He also warns us. As He warned the priests and other leaders of ancient Israel, today He warns pastors and priest and religious leaders. As He tells us through Amos: “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” Amos 3:5

As a nation, as a Church, are we listening to God’s warning through His godly pastors and teachers who preach God’s word and cry out to us: “Repent and obey the gospel. Turn from this perverse and godless culture and their deviant opinions of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Obey the eternal and uncompromising word of God as recorded for us between the covers of the Bible.”

Now back to our text in Isaiah: “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb.”

As I’ve said, the context of this expression of God’s passionate love for His own – the context is His warning to His rebellious and defiant Chosen People of the sure disaster facing them. BUT, all the while, God was also urging them back to Himself. At this time in history, most in Israel would have remembered God’s promise decades earlier through the prophet Hosea 14:1-5a --

“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us.”  [And God responded:] “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily.”

I find it very encouraging on a personal level that despite Israel’s continuing treachery, God’s covenant with them remained firm. Listen to Jeremiah, who wrote just before the Babylonian exile: “Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night . . . 36 “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:35-37 

This promise in Jeremiah, coupled with the text in Isaiah that we’re looking at, has great relevance to each of us in this sanctuary who serves the Lord Jesus Christ. How is that true? Let’s make application of the principles embedded in God’s eternal word to every Christian here and around the world.

God says to you – insert your name here – God says to YOU: “You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.”

It didn’t matter how far Israel had strayed; God was still wooing them back to Himself. In the same way, it doesn’t matter how far the Christian has strayed; God continues to woo us back to Himself. Listen again His plea through Hosea: “Return . . . to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us.” 

Christian! God’s covenant with you remains intact. All you and I need to do is believe Him when He tells us He will always, always receive the penitent back to Himself. Always.

But that’s the operative word, isn’t it? Penitent – being honestly sorry for our sins, turning from those sins, and asking God’s forgiveness.

Many of you know the promise in 1 John: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)

And this one in Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” And this one in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord . . . is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Back again to the Isaiah text: “Listen to Me . . . Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you!

If we believe that God loves every person on this planet, whether a Christian and not – if we believe, as the Psalmist tells us, that God Himself personally “Formed [our] inward parts; [He] wove [us] in [our] mother’s womb, (Psalm 139:13) – and if we believe the apostle John when he wrote, “God so loved the WORLD that He gave,” and not as some prefer to render it, “God so loved the ELECT’ that He gave . . .” – if we believe the Bible in context with the entire Bible, then we will also believe that God not only intimately involved Himself in our lives from the moment of our birth until this very moment, but that God was also intimately involved in our formation from our conception in the womb.

And – and this is also important – His intimacy with us continues through our lives. “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you!

Even to our old age. That means God – our Immanuel, our God-With-Us is the great unchanging One. As He encompassed us while we were in our mother’s womb, so also He surrounded us when we were toddlers, pre-teens, teens, adults – even now to our old age and graying hair. God has carried us, and continues to carry us, in our weakness and in our declining health – even if we do not sense His ever-abiding presence.

Many of you remember the ‘Footprints’ poem. I repeat it now to emphasize the unchangeable truth of His often invisible and even unfelt support.

One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord, across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and I never left you. Never, ever. During your trials and tests, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I was carrying you."

Listen, please. That poem is not some fanciful idea of the poet. It is deeply rooted through the entirety of God’s word, of His promises. May God help us to learn the lesson better than some of us – including myself – have learned the lesson in the past. ‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’  (2 Corinthians 5:7)

God continues through Isaiah: “I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.”

Notice the repeated promise: I will carry you, I will bear you, I will deliver you. For as long as you live. This text connects by context of the entire Bible with passages like Malachi 3:6, where God says, “I do not change,” and with Hebrews 13:8 which assures us, “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, today, forever.”

God underscores for us from one end of His Book to the other of His lifelong care and covenant faithfulness to every penitent child of God.

Peter is only one of dozens of examples of men and women in Biblical and Church history who fall badly but are lovingly and patiently restored by Christ. You remember what he did after Jesus was arrested. He denied his Lord three times, even placing himself under a curse. But then we read that

vignette in John 21 which poignantly illustrates that point of restoration.

Before I get there, let me first say this: The New Testament writers used two words for “love” – phileo and agape. Phileo (fil-EH-oh) carries the idea of close fraternal affection. The special friendship of David and Jonathan is an example of phileo love.

Agape love is often used to describe God's unconditional, merciful, and enduring love for you and me. One of the definitions of Agape is “to prize the object of that love above all other things.”

Now, back to John 21. Peter and the others were fishing when they saw the Lord on the shore. Peter threw himself into the water and swam to the beach as the others followed in the boat. Jesus had already prepared breakfast for them and when they finished eating, Jesus said to Peter, “Do you love [agape: Do you prize Me above all other things?”] Me more than these?” 

[Peter] said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love [phileo] You.”

 [Jesus] said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 

[Jesus] He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you [agape] Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love [phileo] You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love [phileo] Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love [phileo] Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love [phileo] You.” Jesus *said to him, “Tend My sheep. (John 21:15-17)

A modern version of the conversation might sound something like this:
“Peter, do you love me with all your heart?”

“Lord, I have great affection for you.”
“Feed My lambs.”
“Peter, do you really love me?”
“Lord, I think you are wonderful.”
“Tend My sheep.”
“Peter, do you have great affection for me?”
“Lord, you know I do.”
“Feed My sheep.”

Two things catch my attention in this exchange between the Lord and Peter. First, Peter clearly felt miserable about his thrice denial of Christ. Miserable, and self-condemned. But then I noticed how the Savior tried to help Peter move beyond his guilt. When Peter wouldn't say – couldn’t say – he loved Jesus, the Lord came down to his level: “Okay, my friend. Do you have affection for me?”

How like Christ to be so gentle to our wounded spirits.

The second thing I noticed here – and this is equally important – after each agape/phileo exchange the Lord’s charge to Peter was essentially the same: “Feed My sheep.”

In other words, “Peter, I know you feel guilty, but your repentance restored our relationship. Your sorrow and guilt are unnecessary. Don’t let them keep you from your task to tend My flock."

How like the merciful Christ to call us out of our sorrow. How like Him to renew our relationship – vessels of clay that we are – and set us about the work He’s given us to do.

This exchange between the Lord and Peter, as well as the message of Isaiah 46 speaks volumes to me – and I hope to you, as well – of God’s continuing love and patience with us. Listen to Isaiah in chapter 40:11 – “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

In closing, I say it once more for emphasis: God says to every one of His children, both here in this sanctuary, and around the world: “Listen to Me . . . you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:3-4)

God loves you. God ‘agapes’ you. He has not – nor will He ever – abandon His own. Scripture promises every penitent child of God that “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” 1 Peter 5:10

Be encouraged. Be steadfast. Always abound in your work for the Lord, knowing that your labor is never in vain in the Lord.